Verdane acquires portfolio from Bauer Media Group

Stockholm/Hamburg — Verdane Capital IX today announced it has closed the acquisition of a three-company portfolio from Germany-based Bauer Media Group.

The acquired portfolio consists of the three companies navabi, CareerFoundry and Kyto, with Verdane Capital IX having taken over all of Bauer Media Group’s shares in the companies. Verdane Capital IX, a well-known investor in the fast-growing software and e-commerce space, will work actively to continue the three companies’ profitable growth and further expansion into new markets.

“We continue to see major opportunities in a maturing German market to employ our expertise and experience of working in the Nordic ecosystem. This acquisition is an excellent fit with our investment strategy of contributing to build rapidly growing tech companies and support international expansion,” says Staffan Mörndal, Partner at Verdane Capital Advisors.

navabi is a leading online retailer for women’s plus-sized fashion. Equipped with extensive e-commerce best practice knowledge, Verdane Capital IX will help drive growth and further penetration in both current and new markets in the EU and US. In addition, Verdane Capital IX will focus on building upon navabi’s brand equity and establishing more private brands.

“Navabi has a dedicated and competent team, a great offering and a strong growth potential in an attractive niche. Combined with our experience and expertise in building technology-enabled winners, we believe we have the perfect set-up for creating a global market leader in plus sized fashion,” says Mörndal.

The acquired portfolio also includes CareerFoundry, a provider of online tech courses in web development, user experience and user design, and Kyto, a provider of online optimisation solutions for small and medium-sized businesses that use various online classified portals to present their products and generate leads. Both companies are on a rapid growth trajectory, showing significant potential in new markets, and fit Verdane Capital IX’s strategy of acquiring assets within consumer internet and software.

“We are proud to have been part of navabi’s, CareerFoundry’s and Kyto’s journeys together with the excellent employees, management teams and other owners, and we are looking forward to follow the companies’ future development and growth,” says Philipp Meixner, Chief Investment Officer at Bauer Media Group.

Verdane Capital IX is already active in the German market, having invested over EUR 30m in Smava, the leading marketplace lender in Germany, Searchmetrics, one of Germany’s leading search engine optimisation platforms, and Hornetsecurity, a provider of cloud security solutions.

We continue to see major opportunities in a maturing German market to employ our expertise and experience of working in the Nordic ecosystem. This acquisition is an excellent fit with our investment strategy of contributing to build rapidly growing tech companies and support international expansion.

Staffan MörndalPartner, Verdane

About Verdane

Verdane funds provide flexible growth capital to fast-growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses, through both minority and majority investments in individual companies and portfolios. Verdane funds act as ambitious, active, and long-term owners, helping management teams and companies accelerate and sustain growth by leveraging the Verdane advisory team’s unrivalled technology capabilities and proven track record in driving business value. Verdane funds’ and SPVs’ current portfolio of 42 core companies, includes Boozt, EasyPark, Smava, Searchmetrics and Hornetsecurity. Verdane funds have attracted SEK 12 billion in total commitments from investors. Verdane Advisory Group has 30 employees working out of offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm. More information can be found at www.verdane.com

About navabi

navabi is the global leader in plus size fashion. We curate and create the best and most inspirational plus size fashion collections and offer an ecommerce experience for our style savvy customers. More information can be found at: www.navabi.co.uk

About CareerFoundry

CareerFoundry is an online mentor-driven training platform for vocational tech skills in UX design, UI design, iOS development and web development. CareerFoundry alumni currently work for the likes of AT&T, Capco, Deutsche Telekom, PayPal, and Zalando. Since 2014, CareerFoundry has helped educate more than 27,000 people on iOS Development, UI Design, Web Development and UX Design. More information can be found at:www.careerfoundry.com

About Kyto

Kyto is an international software-as-a-service provider headquartered in Berlin. Kyto supports industrial companies by digitalizing their marketing activities. Kyto manages their trade directory and market platform entries and offers individual search engine marketing. Its service enables customers to increase traffic on their website, achieve a greater global reach and consequently boost their revenues. More information can be found at: www.kyto.com

About Bauer Media Group

Bauer Media Group is one of the world’s most successful media corporations. Over 600 magazines, more than 400 digital products and over 100 radio and TV stations are enjoyed by millions of people across the globe. The corporate portfolio also includes print shops, postal, sales and marketing services. Bauer Media Group’s global positioning underscores its passion for people and brands. We see ourselves as the home of popular media, as illustrated by our strapline “We think popular.” – a claim which inspires and motivates our global workforce of some 11,500 employees in 20 countries. More information can be found at: www.bauermedia.com